Saturday, January 16, 2010

We Have Water! 15th January 2009


A rather splendid moss covered fence post. I passed this when I went for an adventurous walk on Thursday. Look, it's green, not white!

Well, hoorah for the mild weather. Precisely one week after our water froze, it came on again. I can't tell you the relief we felt. I was up early and saw that the tap was dripping. Jim was up soon afterwards and managed, with the help of plumber Seamus on the phone, to sort out Billy Boiler and soon he was blasting out heat to his heart's content. We had also had a delivery of wood pellets the day before, so all is once more well in our little world. Jim also went shopping and stocked up with supplies and posted some letters.

The first thing I did was to give the kitchen surfaces a good clean, wash up and put the full dish washer on too. Then I had a lovely, long shower. I have had the washing machine on almost constantly too, as we were running out of clothes. We really weren't very nice to know at all!

Thursday was the day that Jim went shopping and I decided to take Buster for a walk. I walked down to Kevin's farmhouse, but instead of going round the back of his house to the lake, I turned right along the old East Clare Way. It was still pretty icy in places, but that's better than its usual state, when it is churned up by cows and very muddy.

Melting ice on the lane down to Kevin's. It looks like a face.

As we passed Lough Graney on our left, I took this photo. The dark stripes are where the ice has melted.


There were drips everywhere, as the snow and ice melted. They decorated the grasses like jewels.


It's so good to see green again (and a little red crept in).


This is the ground just after I passed through the very awkward gate. It doesn't get much sun here at all. Can you spot Buster up ahead? This is the path that the couple I photographed, Claire and Terry, had walked along from their home, the other side of the bog.

Some of the ice seemed to have bubbles in it. If you click on any of the photos, you can enlarge them and see them in much more detail.

The path goes right through the Doorus Peat Bog. It is criss crossed with deep fissures where the peat has been dug to burn as fuel. We actually have rights to dig in this bog - but have never done so. It's jolly hard work and all the crevices are full of water. It's a strange place, almost other worldly with many dead trees and swamps. Lichen and moss clings to the branches and old stumps stick up out of the brown, peat coloured water. I tried to capture this feeling in the following photographs:



The above photo is a joiner of 3 photos and I think it shows the swampy nature of the bog pretty well.


Here, you can see where the peat has been dug out and left steep walls and water filled crevices.

I think I'll stop here tonight as it's late and that's probably enough for one post.

I'll continue with my adventurous walk tomorrow. I hope everyone has a good weekend. We will!

17 comments:

DK said...

ooh I'm glad I looked before bed - what lovely photographs today! :D xxx

kj said...

what a relief. water is the currency of the world. how wonderful that shower must have been!

your photos are very nice, gina. i wish i could see green in my yard. they'll be snow until march.

xoxo
kj

Arija said...

Thank you for taking us along on this most wonderful walk with so much to see and appreciate.

Anonymous said...

So lovely to see green! That Buster tickles me wandering out in front of you on your walks! The last of our ice/snow melted yesterday. I am so happy to be able to get the car out of the driveway again! Hope you have a super weekend.

Renee said...

BT you live in the land of beauty.

xoxo

Rachel Green said...

What a relief to have the water back

Heather said...

Wonderful photos as usual Gina - especially the mossy post and the Doorus Peat Bog. It looks very 'Middle Earth' and mysterious. Glad you are fully operational again - what a relief for you. Roll on Spring!

Mim said...

I just had a nice review of your last few posts and the wonderful photographs, which are just wonderful. I love the one of Buster in the Peat Bog - what a place! It's like an illustration from a book about spooks and the like. Glad you are getting warm and cozy again - this has been a strange weather spell hasn't it?

BT said...

Thanks K!

Oh gosh, kj, snow until after March? That would drive me nuts! But I suppose you're used to it.

Thank you for reading it Arija!

Hello Mildred. Isn't it good to see the snow go? I'm glad yours has gone too.

Well thank you Renee.

It was indeed Rachel.

Thank you Heather, I loved the peat bog montage best. Another lovely shower this morning!

Hello Mim, thank you for taking the time to have a look through my blog. There are just so many to look at aren't there? We need more hours in the day. I'm glad you appreciated the weirdness of the bog too. I am sitting in my studio with the sun beaming through the double doors - and a t shirt on, it's so warm! Bliss.

steven said...

a spectacular set of photographs bt. i especially love the pictures of the swamp. we lost some of our snow base yesterday as the temperature rose for a couple of hours above zero. there's only a half a foot or so left on the ground. this is what we know as a january thaw. it is usually followed by several weeks of cold and lots of snow. i'm glad for you that your water returned - that's no joke!!! steven

Golden West said...

I don't always comment, but do stop by frequesntly and always enjoy your beautiful pictures

Jinksy said...

So a standing post gathers much moss - unlike a rolling stone, which gathers none!Lovely picture...

Bea said...

Water! It makes you appreciate the places that don't have easy access to water. It's supposed to get up to 38 here today but right now it's a frosty looking winterwonderland. Your pictures are great to look at, what a nice walk to two had. Love that close up of the ice drips on the fence line. :)Bea

marianne said...

How much we appreciate the things we normally take for granted when we are out of them for a while....
We had trouble with out water here too and DH was without water (only cold in the kitchen) for 4 days. No shower etc..... and I was bathing in luxury in Cairo......
When I came home all was solved.
Poor him!Here it is raining and the snow disappears fast. Wish we jsut skip the whole thing and have a heat wave now :)

have a nice weekend!
♥♥♥
>M<

BT said...

Hello Steven, I'm glad you liked the swampy photos, I was pleased with them too. Your snow January thaw sounds strange. I've never heard of that before. Yes - it's wonderful to have our water on again.

Hello Golden, it's fine if you don't comment, as long as you enjoy it.

Bea, you are so right. Yet when we see the tv photos of Haiti, we realise how incredibly lucky we are, water or no water.

I'm pleased you liked the water droplet photo, I did too!

Marianne, how true. Your poor husband without water, and you living it up in Cairo!!! lol. I'm glad it was sorted by the time you returned. It's been mostly fine today but we did have a brief shower of hail! Roll on Spring.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

How wonderful that your water is back on. I hope you don't have another frozen spell for the rest of the winter. That photo of the face in ice looks like a Mardi Gras mask to me. The bog looks like a wonderous place. The peat must be deep in there.

BT said...

Hello Lisa, the bog is indeed a marvellous place. Eerie though. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the water and heating now. Have a good weekend.